Single memorial space to be created at place of massacre of Jews in Kyiv

The single memorial space will be created at the Babyn Yar, the site of massacre of Jews in Kyiv during World War II, to commemorate the victims of the Nazi occupation.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, this is the main idea of ​​the international architectural competition “Memorial Park “Babyn Yar – Dorohozhytchi Necropolis”, held to mark the 75th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy.

The results of the competition, funded by the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter (Canada), were summed up at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center on June 21.

As noted by the Institute’s press service, the words “Babyn Yar” are associated with the Holocaust almost all over the world. Almost 34,000 Kyiv Jews were killed during the two days in the autumn of 1941. During the war, not only Jews were killed and buried at Babyn Yar.

In the two years of German occupation up to November 1943, this site was used as a place of execution and burial of entire groups of persons who were considered to be enemies of the Nazis – Roma people, Ukrainian nationalists and others. Estimates point to at least 100,000 victims, the vast majority (over two-thirds) of whom were Jews.

Thus, according to the Institute, the Babyn Yar has become the territory of various memories that are presented out of common context or are even in conflict with each other. However, the territory remains a recreation area for Dorohozhychi district residents.

To change the situation, the Charitable Foundation “Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter” announced the international architectural competition of organization and improvement of the historical and memorial area “Babyn Yar – Dorohozhytchi Necropolis” on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy, which will be marked in September of this year.

“We should create the infrastructure of memory, which we would rely on in honoring the memory of the Babyn Yar victims between those periods when they are commemorated at the highest state level. This competition will create a framework that will connect different memories of the same tragic place for the various national and social groups and will not allow the conflicts and competition between the memories,” Volodymyr Vyatrovych, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, said during the presentation of the competition results.

Among the criteria the jury members were guided by are inclusion of the future memorial space in the city infrastructure, marking of what was at Babyn Yar and what remains here today, absence of cumbersome structures.

In fact, it should be a kind of frame that will make the history of the Babyn Yar three-dimensional and will tie different memories of the tragedy victims in a single garment of historical memory.

As Vitaliy Nakhmanovych, the executive secretary of the Public Committee for Commemoration of Babyn Yar Victims, noted at the press conference, the initiators and partners of the competition seek to “create a space where commemoration would take place on the basis of common nature of the place.”

About 30 memorial signs, already installed in the park, will not be dismantled as they also need to integrate in the future memorial space.

Mykhailo Gershenzon, the jury member, the founder and head of the “Architect Gershenzon” architectural studio, noted that the jury decided not to award first place to anybody. Instead, seven best ideas were chosen to unite them. A total of 32 projects from 15 countries took part in the competition.

“Each of seven projects has worthy elements. At the same time, none of them provides an integrated response to all the questions, put by organizers of the competition. Therefore, the consultations are being held now on creating a single integrated project on the basis of these ideas. The final project will be presented to the public authorities,” Nakhmanovych said.

  Photos taken from the competition site